F-U, but I swear it’s not what you think!

For you non-vegetarians out there, I say… there’s no need to be scared of the fu… as in TOFU! I’ve heard people say it’s got a weird texture or it simply has no flavor. To that I say, pshaw.

As far as the texture issue goes, here’s how you can actually change the texture of tofu to make it firm and something on which to really chew.Step #1

After opening your tofu in the sink and draining out the liquid, slice the soybean block in fourths, the long way. You should have 4 equal pieces each about ¾” thick. Be careful this tofu stuff is slippery dippery dock, so it’ll slide all over the place and have a tendency to break. If you use the entire palm of your hand to cradle the fu, you’ll be in good shape.

Step #2

We’re going to squeeze out the water. So, grab 5 dinner plates and place a piece of fu on each one. Then, stack the plates on top of each other and then place the last plate on top and put the whole tower in the sink. You’ll have a leaning tour of tofu, so put it in the corner of the sink to keep it from toppling over. Last step, take your biggest stockpot and place it on top of the top dish (FYI, there shouldn’t be any tofu up there!) and fill it all the way up with water.

Step #3

After just a few minutes, you should see a nice collection of milky liquid on each plate. Yay! It’s working. Now, remove the pot, dump off the water that’s been pressed out and reconfigure the tofu tower trying your best keep each piece flat. Sometimes you simple have to rotate the plates in order to keep the pieces from forming wedges rather than flat pieces. I say leave them tofu tower for at least 30 minutes. If I’m leaving it for longer, I put it in the fridge with a 15 pound weight on the top dish!

Step #4

After you’ve drained off the last of the liquid, cut up the tofu in whatever way excites you – cubes, long strips, you name it. By removing all of this water, you have made your tofu dense and “meat like” thereby getting rid of the soft, mushy and slippery texture. Now, you can season it as you would a steak, chicken, lamb, pork… whatever!

If you think about your tofu in terms of a sponge (go with me people) and we’ve just wrung out all the excess water (by pressing it) now it’s ready to soak up more liquid… which will be your flavoring!

Yes, you’re eating a sponge.

Step #5

Season as you wish. But I certainly can recommend sprinkling the following items on top: